When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Class Representative Wang Yang collected the exam papers and handed them over to Professor Xu. Since the next class was also Advanced Calculus, Xu decided not to return to his office—after all, climbing up and down the stairs had become quite tiring for him as he grew older. The elderly professor sat diligently at the podium, glasses perched on his nose, carefully grading each paper. A group of students hovered around him, watching intently, worried that his aging eyes might mistakenly alter their scores. For these top-tier students, this was a silent battlefield without gunfire.
Meanwhile... Zhou Yi was fast asleep, his head resting on his desk. Oblivious to the fact that he had become the center of gossip in the classroom, he slept peacefully.
"Hey, Ningning," Zhang Lili whispered to her deskmate Su Ning, "what's going on with Zhou Yi? He seems like a completely different person from before."
"Who knows? Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me," Su Ning replied indifferently.
Just as they were discussing Zhou Yi, the girl sitting in front of Su Ning turned around with a conspiratorial smile. "I heard that Zhou Yi used to be an orphan. He only found his parents recently. Maybe that explains his sudden change?"
Su Ning looked up, surprised. "An orphan? Where did you hear that?"
The girl leaned closer, lowering her voice. "He mentioned it to our counselor today. I accidentally overheard. He skipped the class meeting because he was moving house."
Zhang Lili gasped, covering her mouth. "Really? But even if he's an orphan, how does that explain such a drastic transformation?"
Suddenly, Zhang Lili snapped her fingers, her eyes lighting up. "Wait... what if he's been hiding his true abilities all along?"
As she pondered further, Zhang Lili grew more convinced by her theory. "Think about it—he's so handsome. Why would he hide his face behind those ugly bangs before? Women care about appearances. If he'd revealed his good looks earlier, would Ningning have dismissed him so easily?"
Su Ning raised an eyebrow. "Are you really suggesting I'm that shallow? Don't project your own ideas onto me."
Zhang Lili giggled. "Oh, come on, I'm just making a comparison. But don't you think his demeanor has changed? If he'd been like this from the start, things would've been very different, wouldn't they?"
Reluctantly, Su Ning nodded. "Yes, I suppose so."
Zhang Lili pressed on. "So there must be a reason why he acted the way he did before. Remember what Xu Cong said? Zhou Yi's abilities shouldn't have placed him at the bottom of the class. I think he was deliberately concealing his potential!"
The girl in front widened her eyes in realization. "So his change is because... his parents found him?"
Something flickered in Su Ning's beautiful eyes. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke softly. "Actually, there's another possibility—one that's quite common in wealthy families."
Both Zhang Lili and the girl in front turned to her, intrigued.
"One possibility is that he's a child born out of wedlock, someone whose existence could cause trouble within the family. To avoid drawing attention or causing discord, he had to pretend to be mediocre."
"Or," Su Ning continued, "his parents hold significant status, and to protect him, they kept him hidden under a low-profile identity. Now that any danger has passed, they've reclaimed him, which explains his dramatic transformation."
Su Ning wasn't merely speculating. Having grown up in the prestigious Su family, she'd witnessed countless scenarios far more convoluted than anything novels depicted. Children raised in secret until adulthood, then thrust into power struggles; families living incognito for years, sending their children away for protection, only reuniting after settling old scores—such cases were not uncommon.
Thus, while Zhang Lili's theories might seem far-fetched, Su Ning found them somewhat plausible.
Zhang Lili nodded thoughtfully. "No wonder Zhou Yi said there were reasons he couldn't explain."
Suddenly, the girl in front grinned mischievously. "So, what do you think—are his feelings for Ningning real or fake?"
Su Ning's heart skipped a beat. She blinked rapidly and turned her gaze toward the window. "Whether it's real or fake doesn't matter. I'll never like him anyway."
In truth, Su Ning's disdain for Zhou Yi had already faded. If everything he had done was merely a survival strategy, she had no reason to dislike him anymore. Moreover, knowing he was an orphan made her feel guilty about how she had treated him in the past.
Zhang Lili clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling dreamily. "If it's fake, then you two are straight out of a romance novel. Zhou Yi reveals his true self, returns to his wealthy family, takes over the business—he's the perfect male lead. And with your family background and his looks, it's a match made in heaven!"
"If it's real, then it's even more touching. A man who's remained unknown for years, pouring his love for you into his diary, enduring such hardship—and you, his only salvation..."
Su Ning couldn't help but shiver at Zhang Lili's overly romanticized words. With a rare, faint smile, she nudged her friend. "Enough, enough. I told you to stop reading so many romance novels. What's with all these wild fantasies in your head? If you can't make it in the real world, maybe you should write novels instead. Don't waste that vivid imagination of yours."
"Hey! Ningning, you know what? That's not a bad idea."
...
While Zhou Yi was sleeping, he vaguely heard his system, 077, say something. Stirring awake, he asked groggily, "System, what did you just say?"
077 responded, "Congratulations, host. Su Ning's regret value has increased by 10 points."
Zhou Yi frowned. "Why? Is it because of the recent test? Did she regret treating me poorly after realizing I'm not as useless as she thought?"
077 replied cryptically, "That's for the host to figure out."
Zhou Yi assumed it was due to him displaying some skill, impressing the ambitious Su Ning. In reality, it was merely the girls' imaginations running wild.
However, their speculations weren't far off from Zhou Yi's intended goal. How could he explain his sudden transformation? If he suddenly became wealthy, what would be the reason?
He needed a plausible backstory. The best explanation lay in his identity. If his biological parents came from a wealthy family, his newfound affluence would make sense. His dramatic change could be attributed to him pretending to be a low-key underachiever in the past. As for the specifics, he'd leave that to others to imagine. The more mysterious, the more believable.
He didn't need to script everything out. After all, the audience's imagination was limitless, often crafting stories even more compelling than his own.
When the bell rang for the next class, Zhou Yi stretched lazily. It was time for him to shine once again. As a self-proclaimed charmer who thrived on showing off and winning admiration, he eagerly anticipated moments like these. Proving doubters wrong and commanding attention had always been central to Zhou Yi's life—but beneath the surface, there was more complexity to him than met the eye.